Events, Classes, and Current Activities
Office Hours.
My Spring 2026 Office Hours are Thursdays, 2-4. Feel free to contact me if you need an appointment.
This spring I'm teaching a senior seminar in French on Rabelais. M-W at 2:30.
In March, on Tuesday afternoons, I'm teaching a course called "This Land is Our Land: The History of American Protest Music," through the 92nd Street Y.
In late summer, I'll be teaching a Saturday morning seminar on Dante's Inferno at Clio's Bookstore in Oakland. Contact me for more details.
In late autumn, I'll teaching a course on Paul Simon and "Global Music" through Stanford's Continuing Studies Program.
Speaking:
On May 21, I'll be the featured speaker at the commencement ceremony for literature and language departments at Berkeley.
In the fall, I'll be speaking in several contexts on the East Coast.
FOR MUSICAL EVENTS, CHECK OUT THE WEBSITE OF THE CLIFTON STREET REGULARS (www.cliftonstreetregulars.com). WE PLAY JAZZ IN VARIOUS BAY AREA VENUES.
Also, keep your eyes open for news of the Unheard Melodies Project. Our EP, "The Shortest Day," is available on Spotify and other streaming venues.
Recent Teaching:
Spring 2025: "Poetry and Song: The Case of Bob Dylan."
Spring 2025; "Essays and Essayism," co-taught with Niklaus Largier.
Fall 2024: "The Good Life: Ancient and Modern Answers," UC Berkeley Comparative Literature Department.
Summer 2022: Paris in the Jazz Age: Stanford Continuing Education.
Fall 2023: Joni Mitchell: Stanford Continuing Education.
Recent Speaking Gigs.
January 2026: "Eat, Pray, Compare: Comparative Literature and the Memoir," Stanford University.
Spring 2025, "Make a Cheerful Noice," Brigham Young University.
MLA Convention: San Francisco, January 5-8. Two presentations: Round Table on the Beat Generation in San Francisco. Paper on colonial experience in the early Renaissance.
Consult MLA program for details.
January 22, 2023--Interviewing Joel Coen about his film, "Inside Llewyn Davis," BAMPFA.
January 19: Stanford Continuing Studies, first meeting of a weekly, 6-week, course, "Bob Dylan: Twenty-First Century Chronicles." Enrollment available through Stanford.
May 25: "Bob Dylan and American Memory," Smithsonian Institute Lecture, "Friends of the Smithsonian." Online.
June 2022, Keynote, "Bob Dylan and the Beat Generation," at the Bob Dylan Center, University of Tulsa.
April 2022, "Perspectives on Cheerfulness," Meyerson Research Lecture, UC Berkeley.
February 28, 2022, "Bob Dylan and Mediterranean Cultural Geographies," University of Aix-en-Provence, France
October 22, 2021, "Dante After Dante," Commonwealth Club, SF
October 28, 2021, "Five Things I've Learned Listening to Bob Dylan," Five Things I've Learned Series.-Videocast